Darren Coffield

Biography: Read more about the artist

Darren Coffield was born in London in 1969. He studied at Goldsmiths College, Camberwell School of Art and the Slade School of Art in London where he received his Bachelor of Fine Art in 1993. He has exhibited widely in the company of many leading artists including Damien Hirst, Howard Hodgkin, Patrick Caulfield and Gilbert and George at venues ranging from the Courtauld Institute, Somerset House to Voloshin Museum, Crimea. His work can be found in collections around the world.

In 2003 his controversial portrait of Ivan Massow, former chairman of the ICA in full fox hunting costume was exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery in London. Portraits of George Galloway and Molly Parkin (NPG, 2010) followed, and most recently a depiction of former Miners Union leader Arthur Scargill made entirely from coal dust.

In the early nineties Coffield worked with Joshua Compston on the formation of Factual Nonsense - the centre of the emerging Young British Artists scene. A new book by Coffield about this period in British Art, Factual Nonsense: The Art and death of Joshua Compston is out now. Coffield lives and works in London.

Education

1989 - 1993

BA in Fine Art (hons), Slade School of Fine Art, London, UK

1988 - 1989

Camberwell School of Art, London, UK

1987

Goldsmiths College, London, UK

Selected Exhibitions

2015

The Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Prize, Piano Nobile, London

2015

Fall of the Rebel Angels, Venice Biennale

2015

Policies Shaw, Lawrence Alkin Gallery, London

2015

Factual Nonsense, Bruton Arts Factory, Bruton, Somerset

2014

Psycho, Residence Gallery, London

2014

Fete Worse Than Death (Curator), Red Gallery, London

2014

Independent's Day with George Galloway MP, Chart Gallery, London

2014

Quo Vadis, Chart Gallery, London

2014

Factual Nonsense — A Guide for the Perplexed, Chart Gallery, London

2013

Pomp & Paradox, Chart Gallery, London

2013

Print Retrospective, Pertwee Anderson & Gold, London

2013

Ashes and Diamonds, Lazarides Gallery

2013

Factual Nonsense, Paul Stolper, London

2013

Memento Mori, Pertwee Anderson & Gold, London

2013

Masters of Reality, Pertwee Anderson & Gold, London

2013

Art13 London, Pertwee Anderson & Gold, London

2012

Thanksgiving Collective 2012, Tripoli Gallery, Southampton, New York

2012

Space Rage, The Residence Gallery, London

2012

The Party Show, Viktor Wynd Gallery, London

2012

Paradox, Herrick Gallery, London

2012

Fragmented Identity, Art Gwangju, Gwangju, Korea

2012

Young Curators, New Ideas IV - American Power, Meulensteen Gallery, New York

2012

The End, Jacob's Island Gallery, London

2012

Disorient Express London - Prague, The London 2012 Olympics

2012

Home Office of the Fan Fiction Empire, The Residence Gallery, London

2012

Paris Art Fair, Paris, France

2012

Face Off, The National Print Gallery, London

2012

London Art Fair, Paul Stolper Gallery, London

2011

In The Flesh, Paul Stolper Gallery, London

2011

Scope Basel, Switzerland

2011

Ashes & Diamonds, (touring exhibition)

• Market Hall, Chesterfield
• Northern College, Barnsley
• Hurst House, Chesterfield
• Wortley Hall, Sheffield

2011

Peeping Tom, Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort, The Netherlands

2011

The Recession Show, Curator, London Art Fair Projects, London

2010

John Moores Contemporary Painting Prize 2010, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool

2010

Threadneedle Prize, Mall Galleries, London

2010

BP Portrait Award, Aberdeen Art Gallery, Aberdeen, Scotland

2010

BP Portrait Award, National Portrait Gallery, London

2010

East Wing IX, The Courtauld Institute of Art, Somerset House, London

2009

Turner Contemporary Open 2009, Turner Contemporary Project Space, Margate

2009

De Queeste artists, Quest 21, Brussels, Belgium

2008

Plein air, Maximilian Voloshin Museum, Koktebel, Crimea

2008

Jerwood Drawing Prize 2008, (touring exhibition)

2005

Artists' Pictionary, The Agency Contemporary Gallery, London

2004

Board Meeting, Fake London Genius, Savile Row, London

2003

BP Portrait Award, Aberdeen Art Gallery, Aberdeen, Scotland

2003

BP Portrait Award, National Portrait Gallery, London

2000

Less Filth, More Fury, Soho House, London

1999

Richard Dadd's 30th Birthday Party, Bedlam Performance Art, A.S.C, Rosebery Avenue, London

1999

The I.C.A presents... A.S.C, Rosebery Avenue, London

1998

The Colony Room Club 50th Anniversary Art Exhibition, A22 Projects, London

1998

Terminal Beach, G, London

1998

Whitechapel Open Studios, London

1997

Whitechapel Open Studios, London

1996

Displaced A.S.C., London

1995

Factual Nonsense, London

1994

Factual Nonsense, London

1993

Factual Nonsense, London

1992

A Guide For The Perplexed, Factual Nonsense, London

1992

Abstractions From a Domestic Suburb Scene, Benjamin Rhodes Gallery, London

1992

Empty Gestures, Diorama, London

1991

One Man Down, The Pearson Gallery, UCL, London

1991

The Courtauld Institute Loan Collection, The Courtauld Institute of Art, London

Publications

• Book: Factual Nonsense — The Art and Death of Joshua Compston, June 2013

Selected Bibliography

• Adele adds to pop art collection, The Sun, 27 December 2013
• Why it's all relative for Adele, The Daily Mail, 19 December 2013
• Frieze Magazine, December 2013
• Factual nonsense and fantastic mythologies, The Art Newspaper, October 2013
• A London exhibition charts the art and death of Joshua Compston, Wallpaper* Magazine, June 25, 2013
• Guess Who, Garage Magazine, April 2013
• BBC News - In pictures: Topsy turvy world of celebrity, April 5, 2013
• From Kate's smiling eyebrows to Harry Styles' staring chin: The topsy turvy faces of celebrity, The Independent, April 5, 2013
• SCOPE for the best, IDentity Magazine, April 2012
• SCOPE for the best, IDentity Magazine, September 2011
• Liverpool Biennial, BBC News North West, September 19, 2010
• Nice painting. I'll take two., Metro, June 24, 2010
• BP Portrait Prize 2010 catalogue, National Portrait Gallery
• City Diary, The Times, July 29 and 31, 2009
• Graphic illustrations of personal and political themes, Tribune, October 3, 2008
• Jerwood Drawing Prize 2008, Exhibition catalogue, September 2008
• The Colony - A Documentary Preview, Love is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon (DVD), BFI, August 2008
• Let's not carp about Ivan, Evening Standard, September 24, 2007
• Art make-over for Peckham, BBC News, Transmission: August 6, 2007 (TV)
• Channel 4 Dispatches, Transmission: July 2007 (TV)
• Artist and a right Charlie, Evening Standard, December 8, 2006
• 'Gorgeous George' brush with destiny, East London Advertiser, November 16, 2006
• 'Gorgeous George' sits pretty with Blair and Bush, The Guardian GT Magazine, November 8, 2006
• Portrait of 'George' (Galloway), Free at Last TV, July 2006 (TV)
• Fake London Genius // Board Meeting, 2004 (catalogue)
• John Russell Taylor, Drawn from lives, The Times, July 9, 2003
• Brian Sewell, Canvas, brush, paint..., Evening Standard, June 20, 2003
• Bunny Smedley, ART: Still very much alive, thanks, Electric Review, June 25, 2003
• BP Portrait Award 2003 catalogue, National Portrait Gallery
• Caroline Roux, Aspects of me, The Guardian Magazine, April 26, 2003
• No Fun Without U, Author: Jeremy Cooper, 2000 (book)
• Catherine Milner, What pushed Joshua Compston over the edge?, Tatler Magazine, July 2000
• Death of a Curator, Illuminations Production, BBC2, November 1999 (TV)
• Silk and Metal-Morphoses, Evening Standard, March 29, 1999
• Artists of the Colony Room Club, 50th Anniversary Exhibition 1998 (catalogue)